A Battle With Swords
by PencilPop
Summary: "Like this?" Bel attempts to learn how to use the sword, with Squalo as the teacher. However, things don't always work out the way you want them to and Bel gets injured. Squalo's thoughts with Bel being his usual, insane self. Story is way better than summary. Please review!


It was a cloudy day and the sound of metal against metal could be heard from the distance. In the middle of a wide clearing, a silver haired assassin and a blonde haired assassin fought furiously. The sun was close to setting and the sky turned into beautiful shades of deep red, orange and gold. The clearing was in the middle of a lush forest, quite a distance away from the Varia mansion.

* * *

_5 hours ago…_

It had been a perfectly normal day. Maybe that was why the prince had felt so bored, as he wandered around the mansion. Finally, he decided enough was enough, the prince was not allowed to be bored and with that, he marched to the shark's bedroom.

Tossing the door open, he quickly sidestepped to avoid the incoming sword that slashed in his direction. "VOOOII! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, BRAT?" The usual loud voice boomed as Squalo took another swipe at the younger assassin.

"I'm bored." Bel stated plaintively. "WELL GO BOTHER SOMEONE ELSE!" Squalo replied and tried to push Bel out of his room.

Bel giggled in his usual signature laugh before stepping deeper into the room. "Squalo, teach me how to use the sword."

Squalo froze at that. Did he just hear him correctly? Bel wanted to learn to use the sword? And did the resident tensai just ask Squalo to TEACH him something? Wow the pigs must really be flying! Quickly clearing his mind, he squinted at the prince suspiciously. "Why?"

"Because, I'm a prince." Bel said, then added, "Plus I'm bored."

* * *

_2 hours ago…_

Which was the reason why the two of them is standing in the middle of the clearing, Squalo with his usual attached sword and Bel with a newly acquired, skinny sword.

"Like this?" Bel asked as he slashed the sword through the air with the grace of a music conductor.

Squalo had to fight the urge to roll his eyes. "VOOII! Take this seriously!" he growled, punctuating his point with a swing of his sword.

"I am!" the prince said with a pout, "You're just making it hard, stupid shark."

The said shark's grey orbs narrowed dangerously, but he decided to let it slide. Completely exasperated, he attempted to continue teaching the annoying brat the correct way to use a sword.

* * *

_Now…_

Surprisingly, the blonde haired assassin had gotten the hang of the sword quite quickly. Of course, Squalo had to quickly correct him when the prince attempted to throw it like a knife, but other than that, the evening sailed by smoothly. Now, they were well into their second "battle" using the swords.

_CLANG! CLANG!_

The loud noise of the swords could be heard all over the forest.

"VOOOOIIII! You're getting better!" Squalo announced with a shark grin on his face. "Of course," Bel retorted, quickly blocking a blow, "I'm a prince." This time, Squalo did roll his eyes.

It wasn't until the fourth round when it happened.

Squalo had gotten excited over the hours and started using more advanced blows during the fight. Although Bel always managed to escape them with nothing more major than a light cut, he was getting tired. Of course, Bel didn't show this, too proud and full of dignity.

Then, it happened. During a fierce round of attacks from Squalo, Bel barely blocked an attack and didn't see the second one coming. With a painful swiping sound, the sword slashed across Bel's chest as he went down.

For a second, time seemed to stand still; it was completely quiet in the clearing and the woods that surrounded it.

For a second, Squalo's heart almost stopped, he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing, and the thought didn't even register in his mind at first. The prince…had fallen?

An ear-piercing scream seemed to fill Squalo's head, but there was no one there besides the two of them. Frozen, Squalo stared at Belphegor, lying on the ground in a puddle of red, a large gashing wound across his chest.

The smile had dropped off Squalo's face long ago.

Bringing himself out of his frozen state, Squalo took a shaking step towards Belphegor and then in a matter of milliseconds, he was by the prince's side.

"U…ushishis…" the prince broke off, grin never leaving his face although he trembled terribly.

Squalo was still having a hard time registering everything that was happening. Bel never made mistakes, he thought to himself. What had happened back there? Unless, of course! The insane prince was too proud to say he was tired and needed a rest. For a second, an expression of rage replaced the one of shock on Squalo's face as he shouted, "VOOOIII! YOU BRAT! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?"

"The prince is going to die~~" the mad assassin cackled in a voice way too gleeful in this kind of situation.

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? You're not going to die! You're one of the strongest people I know." Squalo added as an afterthought. "Reeeally?" Belphegor asked as he attempted to sit up. Squalo pushed him back down, "Shut up and stay down!" Without another word, Squalo turned and strode briskly towards the other side of the clearing where he retrieved the bag he had brought.

Quickly whipping out some emergency medical supplies, he tried to fix his comrade the best he could.

"The prince is going to die~~" the younger assassin repeated in a crazy tone. Must be some kind of a shock from seeing so much of his "royal blood". "I SAID TO SHUT UP!" Squalo shouted back, trying to reassure his pounding heart that it was not true. The genius can't die. He couldn't. He didn't know what would happen to Varia if he did. Calm down, he told himself. Except he couldn't.

Never in his entire life had he ever thought the annoying prince would actually be hit by one of his attacks. Whether it was serious or not. During the years Bel had been staying at Varia, the two of them had gotten into many fights and Bel was known for teasing the older, shark-like man. Of course, most of these fights end when Squalo attempts to stab Bel while Bel hightails it out of there. Never had he thought Bel would go down, especially because of an attack by him.

"You won't die." Squalo said through gritted teeth, more to himself than to Bel. Quickly, he turned on the chip in his ear and tuned in to the Varia mansion. "Hello? Lussuria! It's an emergency! Send yourself and Mammon down here immediately, Bel's badly hurt." And with that, he clicked it off again. Of course, before the two had left, they had informed the others about their whereabouts.

While waiting for the other members of the Varia squad, Squalo paced around nervously. He knew that they had little time and they still had to move Bel back to the mansion. For a minute, he pondered the idea of calling the boss as well, but then realized that he probably didn't care.

"Squuu-squuu~~" Squalo is startled out of his thoughts as the name the prince reserved for him (7 years ago) was called out again. He was way too chipper for someone on the verge of dying. Squalo decided before kneeling by Bel's side, "What do you want Bel?" He was trying to be tough, but it was getting harder now.

Bel managed to form a pout, "I'm bored, and it's all your fault." Squalo almost laughed at that if he wasn't so worried. Just like always, Bel was being Bel and his heart ached again at the thought of what would happen if he died.

Hesitating and doing something he would never do, Squalo reached for the prince's hand. Bel did no object, but Squalo could feel the prince staring at him from under his blonde bangs.

It felt like days had gone by before a familiar shape floated above the trees towards the clearing when actually, it was only half an hour.

"VOOII! Mammon! Where's Lussuria?" Squalo stood up in relief as the mist arcobaleno floated down towards them.

"He's not far behind," and then he caught sight of Bel, "Mu…what happened? That's quite a deep wound."

"The mean shark hit me!" Bel chose that moment to shout, being the spoiled child he is.

"Squ-chan, what really did happen?" Lussuria asked as he ran into the clearing, "My you had me worried there."

Squalo sighed softly, "It was an accident, we were practicing with swords when it happened." He swore that Mammon was glaring at him from under that hood.

"Well we better get him back to the mansion." Lussuria went on, carefully examining the state Bel was in.

"I'll conjure up something to take him back." Mammon replied, floating towards Bel. "And you should stop worrying!" Lussuria continued, glancing at Squalo with a knowing look, "He'll be fine in no time!"

With one last look at the prince, who had gone unconscious due to blood loss, Squalo followed Lussuria out of the clearing.

"I…G…get better."


End file.
